Recent Dishes at Ladies’ Purse

March 29^th

was another day at Ladies Purse, Shatin Racecourse Owners’ Club. The dishes we ate were shown here:

(1) The arrangement of the food and sauce looked like a human face. The yellow omelet which contained rice (蛋包飯奄列) was the forehead. The shredded cheese formed the eyebrows. The three thick salmon cubes acted as eyes with eye-lids closed on two sides and a nose at the centre. The brown sauce that spread out looked very much like the mouth. The white dish itself was the face.

(2) The beef burger was piled up in layers from bottom bread, tomato, chopped lettuce, thick beef, again sliced vegetables with salad sauce, a round piece of "Sun" egg (太陽蛋), the bread cap. Broad potato strips, vegetables and tomato sauce were near by.

(3) The dish of Indian curry fish fillets with tomatoes looked nice, but when I tasted it, I found it a little sour. It did not have the fragrance of coconut milk in the yellow curry. It was a little hot, but okay for me. I ate the curry with rice. I guessed I would try other curry next time.

(4) The last dish displayed two pieces of rich-in-sauce pork chops which had been lightly cut on the surfaces to make it look much like flattened pineapples. There were some noodles and cucumber hiding at their backs.

The outlook of these dishes was great. Maybe the kind of art in laying food in a beautiful way could improve our appetites at Ladies’ Purse.

搖搖車

三月廿四日那天, 我們大小五人一踏入大埔火車博物館, 就見到這部搖搖車.

驟眼看它似簡單, 有四個車輪, 一個車架, 一個平台, 兩副搖搖把手, 但如果兩人跳上去合作地搖的話, 相信很費力. 起步是難, 但是車子移動之後, 應容易得多了.

我建議港鐵(現在名稱)最好在適當地方另設火車博物館, 加上各種火車玩意, 例如, 把搖搖車放在指定路軌上給遊客搖(這當然要收費啦!), 那麼, 一來遊客可做運動健身; 二來又有趣, 情侶一齊參加更妙. 有雙軌更好, 因為可以有隊際比賽, 更加刺激和有挑戰性.

此外, 若果有模擬古時乘火車時的情景遊戲場, 例如: 售票, 火車頭和車卡掉動, 發出火車訊號, 播放與火車及車站有關的故事電影, 電動火車模型給小朋友玩. 我相信這等等玩意比起那些把我們拋到半空, 嚇得半死的機動遊戲來得有趣!

小力士

話說最近夫人買了一個注水啞鈴做健身, 入滿水之後, 其重量可達1kg (約2.2磅).

Abby在3月26晚做了小力士. 我們嘗試給Abby去拿起這個啞鈴. 她成功用雙手把它拿到胸前.

我覺得她的確了不起, 因為以她的小小年紀及較輕體重去舉重已經很難得了! 她這次紀錄可列入鄭氏紀錄大全.

A Counting Game

How many seals are there in this photo?

This game is to test your counting and observation abilities!

New Zealand Walkways

On a board at Cape Foulwind, the Department of Conservation in New Zealand publicizes that the Cape is not only a Walkway, but also a Seal Colony.

The fact that the sea water is pounding strongly here brings many seals to land on the rocks to take sunbathing.

In the second photo, the seals, big or small, have an assembly on the huge rocks.

They come from the same family and have reunion at this wonderful spot.

In the last photo, there is an unusual visitor(不速之客) at a rock. Which of the following is it?

A. a cat

B. a crocodile

C. a kiwi

D. a lizard

E. a pigeon

Matching Game (1) - Snoopy Dolls

In the photo, the 8 Snoopy dolls come from 7 places (cities or countries) in Asia.

First number those in the first row from left top corner to the right as [1], [2], [3] and [4].

Next number those in the second row from left bottom corner to the right as [5], [6], [7] and [8].

Here are the 7 places of Asia for you to match:

A. China

B. Hong Kong

C. Indonesia

D. Japan

E. Korea

F. Macau

G. Thailand

Take for example:

One of the answers is: [3] matches B. Well, the doll [3] 財神 comes from Hong Kong.

NOT a Green Tea advertisement!

In this advertisement, the lovely dog is looking at a nice cup of green tea. Somehow when the lens of the camera zoom out, the cup turns out to be a roll of toilet paper with the aroma of green tea.

What an extraordinary piece of advertisement!

This advertisement probably attracts people who like to drink green tea to buy home rolls of toilet paper of this kind and place them in the toilet. The paper brings fragrance into the toilet as well as to the body after use!

A Long Strip of Park

Beside Regal Riverside Hotel at Shatin, a narrow strip of park begins to stretch a long way to Shatin Wai. It gives people a green look when they walk along its footpaths.

The trees here provide temporary shades for people and resting places for birds. I particularly like those trees with red leaves in February. I enjoy walking underneath them.

At several spots, there are benches only for people to sit because their arm-rests stop people from lying down to sleep. Creepers are growing on the semi-circular archway made right above each bench. These plants certainly give natural shade to people sitting underneath.

Frappuccino

Frappuccino is a coffee drink from Starbucks. It was my first time tasting this kind of coffee this Monday, March 24^th.

At Tai Po market, Connie found herself thirsty, so she would like to buy something to drink from a nearby 7-eleven shop while Philip and my wife were queuing up for two bowls of Tau Fu Flower (豆腐花). I joined Connie-n-Abby team because I wanted to take care of Abby in her pram while Connie was finding a drink from the shop. It took almost 5 minutes before Connie found her bottle of drink because there were hundreds of selections. Abby was impatient in waiting for Connie at the doorway, but I tried to comfort her.

Soon I saw this 281-ml bottle of coffee in Connie’s hands. What? It was a bottle of coffee from Starbucks. Oh, dear! I never dreamt that even a 7-eleven shop could sell coffee drinks from this famous worldwide coffee shop. I asked Connie for the price. The answer was HK$15.9.

Let’s look at the bottle itself. It looks like a mini-milk bottle, roughly rectangular at the bottom and round at the top. Two plastic transparent labels with logo and words are stuck onto the front and hind faces.

I like the Starbucks-logo of a long-haired mermaid with a crown on her head. On the front label was written: “An irresistible taste experience from a creamy blend of aromatic Starbucks coffee and milk”.On the hind label there were brown letters “COFFEE” and words like, “Shake Well, Served Chilled or Over Ice”.

To impress the customers, the hind label adds:” For over 35 years, Starbucks has served some of the world’s finest coffees. Now you can enjoy our expertise outside the coffeehouse.

Starbucks Frappuccino is an artful blend of rich, deep-roasted Starbucks coffee and milk. Enjoy this silky smooth, irresistibly indulgent premium coffee experience.”

Of course the ingredients, the manufacturing name and address are listed on the label as well. It is a product of U.S.A. What a long journey before it arrives at Hong Kong!

Connie finished half of the bottle and passed it to me. I drank the rest. The taste was really silky, creamy and lovely. No doubt it is much better than soft-drinks.

Cape Foulwind

The word “Foulwind” may mean “stormy and rough wind”. This cape near Westport is facing Tasman Sea. It has suffered from sea and weather erosion. Strong winds and heavy rain together with the heat of the sun have eroded the weaker rocks and soil away, leaving some strong rocks behind still jutting out of the sea water.

Fallen rocks have made the sea floor near the coast rugged and thus create strong currents of sea water. Waves after waves keep rushing in with white foams.

The sandy beach here is quite big, big enough to build several beach volley-ball courts. The fact that strong winds often come makes this beach not suitable for playing such a game.

Ying Ping and Ho Keung grasped the chance of a sunny day (September 6^th) walking on the soft sand and together took a nice photo with this beautiful beach.

What is this advertisement about?

To promote

(1) a dog’s drink

(2) a kind of tissue paper

(3) a brand of green tea

(4) a brand of green pea soup

(5) a kind of lemon drink in a restaurant

A tree that does Not look Natural

The photo shows an artificial tree which has been trimmed to a mushroom or bean-like tree. I don’t like this kind of man-decorated tree.

It only fits the eyes of the man who trims it. I guess my readers agree with my comment on such a poor-looking tree.

Well we have Nature Study in schools. Here we have Artificial Study in the Garden of the Floating Restaurant!

Rowing boats

Today Philip, Connie and Abby were to meet us at one of the banks of Shing Mun River. On the way, I saw athletes rowing boats of a single-seater and a two-seater along the river. They seemed very skilful. I guessed they had been rowing boats for several years. They practised rowing in such a way that they did not row fast. Unlike at time of competition, they enjoyed those slow rowing movements and muscle stretching and tightening.

A jetty was stretching out from the shore for athletes to embark the boats or to go ashore. Those men wearing orange T-shirts were service-men carrying boats out and lowering them to the river.

Soon I saw a 9-seater boat passing by with 8 people rowing. The hind one was holding a hand-held trumpet-like loudspeaker (not of an electrical one, but merely for shouting aloud). Most probably he was the instructor who gave orders or instructions during rowing.

This kind of rowing boats requires team work, skill, tactics and energy. It is not a simple game at all.

Today is cloudy, cool with very little rain, so it gives an ideal weather for such a healthy sports game.

On a South-bound Train

On this homeward train yesterday, Abby was sitting in her pram, facing me. When she saw me, she was conditioned to ask me for my camera so that she could look at the photos inside. I turned on my camera and showed her some of the photos taken an hour ago.

At one moment, I found this photo of Abby. I showed it to her and wanted to know how she reacted. Well, Abby closed her eyes, tightened them and imitated the blurred look of her face in the photo. My wife noticed Abby’s strange expression on her face and she wanted to know why. When I turned the camera screen towards her, she well understood that Abby was trying to make herself more or less look like the “Abby” in the photo. How interesting Abby was!

My Recent Discovery

Yesterday night we had dinner in Sheung Shui. A waitress brought us some cans of soft-drinks. On a can of Coca-cola, instead of ordinary thin and thick strips, the bar codes were tailor-cut into the wavy outline of a bottle of Coke.

It is really an amazingly good idea to have various shapes such as the outlines of a butterfly, cow, banana, strawberry, etc. etc. to go with the bar-codes in similar manner like the can of Coke here!

My recent discovery may be your old discovery!

The Best shots of Wall pictures at Ma Wan Park (2)

The beauty of the next three wall-pictures can be seen here. They are of three themes:

(1) A lady watering a tree

(2) A Baby like Abby holding onto a balloon

(3) A Red-hot face in a Desert

Maybe you would like give new titles to these pictures. Tell me if you would!

The Best shots of Wall pictures at Ma Wan Park (1)

Before I left the lower strip of Ma Wan Park, I took closer shots of the wall pictures.

The photo composition based on those pictures I liked at this very spot. I filled up the screen of my camera with the rich colours and ideas the artists wanted to convey.

The photos looked much better in this way because they were no longer wall pictures in nature but flat and normal pictures.

Mileometer – 33333

Yin Ping took a photo of the mileometer (see top photo) of their car which recorded the distance (33333 km) they travelled for a whole week on North Island as well as for a day on the northern part of South Island.

The second photo shows Yin Ping sitting on the rocky shore of Buller River, which is the biggest river on the west coast.

The third photo shows the lower course of the river whose water was clear and slow-flowing. The sky was clear and the scenery was beautiful.

The last photo shows the motel Yin Ping and Ho Keung stayed in Westport. This motel looked nice from outside. What did it look inside? Perhaps Yin Ping and Ho Keung can tell us.

Long Face

Do you know why Abby pulled her face long like this in a park?

Guess the reason:

(1) To scare people before her

(2) To make herself sad

(3) To attract people’s attention

(4) To rub cream on her face

(5) To show to people she was unhappy

黃色紫色配搭的花

這些黃色紫色的花是同一家族的, 其型態和形狀方面都一致, 只不過是顏色有分別而已.

這兩種顏色不同的花共通點是中心部份有黃色的柱頭, 而柱頭周圍是深褐色. 這個佈局正好吸引及引領蜜蜂飛向柱頭. 牠們身上部份的花粉, 在經過柱頭時候會留在柱頭上, 於是後者接受了蜜蜂帶來的花粉, 從而傳宗接代.

這張照片同時令我想起很久以前香港曾經舉辦過”平安小姐”選舉. 平安小姐所穿著的服裝顏色配搭正是黃紫兩色. 其實這個選舉目的是推動全港洗太平地, 創造一個清潔環境.